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Donbass War
The Donbass War was an armed conflict in eastern Ukraine which was fought between the Ukrainian government and the Russian-backed separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics. The Ukrainian military failed to crush the separatist uprisings due to Russian military intervention, and, after mid-2015, the conflict was largely "frozen" due to a series of ceasefires, although minor clashes continued. Background The Euromaidan revolution of February 2014 led to the removal of pro-Russian President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych from power and his replacement by the democratically-elected Oleksandr Turchynov. The new Ukrainian government was anti-Russian, and it refused to acknowledge Russian as an official language of the country. The nationalist regime alienated the Russian-majority populations of eastern Ukraine and the Crimea, and, on 6 April 2014, 2,000 people gathered at a rally in Donetsk to demand a status referendum similar to the one held in the Crimea in March, which resulted in the Russian annexation of Crimea in the "Crimean Crisis". The Russian annexation of the Crimea was internationally condemned as an invasion, but it inspired pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. They stormed the RSA building and proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic, a Russian-majority breakaway state. On 12 April, armed forces led by Russian operative Igor Girkin stormed and occupied government buildings in other regional centers. Unrest in Luhansk Oblast began on 6 April, and 1,000 activists seized and occupied the SBU building in the city of Luhansk, following similar occupations in the cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv. The protestors called for a people's government, demanding either federalization or incorporation into the Russian Federation. On 27 April, the Luhansk People's Republic was declared, with Luhansk serving as its capital. War By 14 April 2014, pro-Russian separatists took over several cities in eastern Ukraine; on 4 May, the flag of the DPR was raised over the Donetsk city police headquarters. Russian militants also took over the city of Sloviansk, but the Ukrainian government led a counter-terrorism operation to recapture the city. From 13 April to 5 July, the city was under siege, and 20,000 people were displaced by the fighting before the Ukrainians recaptured Donetsk. The Ukrainians also retook Kramatorsk on 5 July, although the separatists would capture Horlivka. In April, the separatists overran Mariupol, but, on 13 June, Ukrainian forces reclaimed the city. These early Ukrainian victories would be negated by the separatist capture of the Donetsk Airport on 28 May. On 11 June, Russian armored columns entered eastern Ukraine to support the struggling separatist forces, and Russia sent tanks and other heavy weapons to the separatists to assist them in turning the tide against the Ukrainian military. Although the insurgents withdrew from northern Donetsk Oblast, fighting escalated sharply in eastern Donbass, and the Shakhtarsk Raion was the site of a battle between the Russian and separatist forces and the Ukrainian military. On 17 July, the separatists shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as it flew over the conflict zone, killing all 298 people on board. This led to international outrage, as the missiles were fired from the Russian side of the border. Between 22 and 25 August, Russian artillery, personnel, and a "humanitarian convoy" crossed the border into Ukrainian territory. The Russians launched a stealthy invasion under the cover of artillery barrages, with over 7,500 Russian infantrymen joining the separatist forces in the Donbass region. The DPR and LPR forces regained much of the territory which they had lost to the previous Ukrainian government offensive, and, on 5 September 2014, the separatists and Ukrainian government agreed to the Minsk Protocol ceasefire. Ceasefire violations on both sides became common, and the separatist states were destabilized by infighting and warlordism, leading to the overthrow of the Russian citizen elite of the separatists and their replacement by ethnic Russians from Ukraine. In January 2015, the ceasefire completely collapsed, leading to more fighting at the Donetsk International Airport and Debaltseve. On 12 February 2015, the Minsk II armistice was agreed upon, but separatists launched a fresh offensive on Debaltseve and forced the government forces to withdraw. In the following months, a few skirmishes occurred, but there were no territorial changes. The war became a "frozen conflict", with the separatist states continuing to function with Russian assistance as Ukraine observed its ceasefire with them. Category:Wars Category:Cold War II